Why You Should Not Resize Embroidery Designs on Your Own
Many users, especially beginners, try to adjust the size of embroidery designs themselves to better fit their project. Unfortunately, this often leads to problems during stitching and ruins both the fabric and the embroidery machine.
What Happens When You Resize a Design?
Embroidery designs are not simple images – they are carefully programmed sequences of stitches. If you increase or decrease the size of a design using software that does not recalculate stitches properly, the following issues may occur:
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Too many stitches in a small area – the embroidery becomes overly dense, the needle breaks, or the thread constantly snaps.
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Too few stitches – the design becomes unstable, with gaps and visible fabric.
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Skipped details – fine contours or elements disappear after resizing.
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Damaged stabilizer and fabric – dense or improper stitching can tear the backing or stretch the fabric.
Why Can’t You Just Scale a Design Like an Image?
Unlike a graphic file, an embroidery file contains information about:
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stitch length,
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stitch type (satin, fill, etc.),
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stitch direction,
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layering sequence,
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underlay structure,
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thread tension and density.
Changing the size of a design without adjusting these parameters leads to technical defects.
What Do Manufacturers Recommend?
Leading embroidery machine brands like Brother, Bernina, and Janome recommend using only professionally digitized files in the original size. If resizing is necessary, it must be done by the digitizer in specialized software that recalculates the stitch data.
What Should You Do?
If you need the design in a different size:
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Contact the seller or digitizer and request a customized size.
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Explain your fabric, hoop size, and desired dimensions.
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Avoid editing the file in hobby software without experience.
In summary: resizing embroidery designs on your own is a common cause of failed projects, broken needles, and machine damage. Always use properly digitized files for your specific size – this will save you time, money, and frustration.